A lovely bunch of coconuts

Published: Apr 03 , 2014
Author: Romana Henry

As a French speaker, I was recently dispatched to the French
island of La Reunion, located in the middle of the Indian Ocean
close to Mauritius and Madagascar to run a course. What a place! A
tropical paradise with wonderful people, beaches, sea, food,
scenery, the list goes on and on. My colleague Julien,
originally from Paris but living there for the last 10 years –
life’s a bitch – told me a lovely story.

A young and thrusting French sales executive was on a business
trip to Madagascar and came across a native Madagascan selling
coconuts at the side of the road. His wares were lined up on
top of what looked like an old surf board. The French man asked why
he was selling only coconuts and the native answered, “why
not?”

“Because there are so many wonderful fruits on this island which
you could be selling,” was his response. “Mangoes, bananas,
pineapples, avocado, oranges, lemons…… you could sell so much more;
then you could buy a bicycle, put a basket on the front and ride
around collecting the fruit.”

“But why would I want to do that? All I do is shake
the tree; the coconuts fall; I catch them then I sell them:
simple,” he answered.

“Well yes, but you could make much more money if you had more to
sell.”

“What for?”

“Well, then you could get yourself a stall in the big
market.”

“But why would I want that?”

“Well, then you could employ your brothers and sisters and your
business would grow and grow.”

“But why would I want that?”

The French guy, by this time rather exasperated, looked at the
Madagascan in his shorts, vest and flip flops, breathed deeply and
said, “well because, just think, after you’ve worked really hard
all week, when the weekend comes, you could go fishing!”

“But I go fishing every day,” was the reply.

A common mistake in negotiations is making assumptions and then
not testing them. The French guy assumed that the Madagascan shared
the same priorities as he did, namely making money and being
successful in business. We see it all the time and it can
lead to so many misunderstandings and missed opportunities.
Rather than assume you know what the other party wants, needs,
likes, dislikes, can and can’t do, why not test your
assumptions by asking good negotiating questions then listening
carefully to the answer and picking up any signals held within
those responses - (“difficult” does not mean “impossible” and
“at the moment”, may not mean “never”). That way, you are
much more likely to make proposals which have a better chance of
being accepted and you will waste much less time trying to make the
other party accept something they do not want or cannot
do.

Now fishing may not be my thing; but I’m with the Madagascan
when it comes to his priorities!

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We all face the New Year with a variety of perspectives – simplify… clarify… amplify… save money… make more money… spend more time exercising… eat healthier… the list goes on and on. Negotiating with ourselves is a lifelong journey – it never goes away…but we can get better at it.